


Get Closer

by uro_boros



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 20:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7588459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uro_boros/pseuds/uro_boros
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Here’s Earth,” says Keith finally, as the stars settle into a crown around his head. He holds out a hand to Lance, and Lance takes it, unsure why or for what reason. </p><p>They hold hands and look at Earth, and faintly, by his side, Keith says, “I miss it too,” in a sigh that leaves him leaning against Lance’s side. The room is quiet, and the stars are still, and Keith is warm under his arm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get Closer

It’s not that he suddenly starts liking Keith, or that one day Lance wakes up and sees him and thinks, _hey, not bad_ , to himself. He’s liked girls since before he can actually remember liking girls, and Keith Kogane does nothing to change that.

It’s more like this: he picks a fight over something dumb, except they’ve been doing this for nearly a year now, and the line of Keith’s spine doesn’t tense at the sound of Lance’s voice anymore. It’s that when Keith turns around to look at him, he rolls his eyes and his lips curve into something that’s nearly a smile, and Lance’s heart does a flutter and his stomach does a flip as everything shifts just a little bit sideways.

He still doesn’t like Keith. There’s too much pent up there – too many things and faults of his own that he’s got pinned on the square shoulder’s of the garrison’s number one dropout.

–

It’s that Lance is only nineteen and the middle child out of a total of eight. He can count on one hand the number of times he’s been alone.

Space is vast and empty.

He spends hours scrolling through the map of the universe, trying to count how many spins of his hands it takes to get back to Earth.

He only makes himself sick.

–

Really, it’s Keith who starts things.

It’s Keith back from training, smelling like sweat, pale cheeks flushed with the rapid push-pull of his heartbeat. He has his hair tied back, but pieces of it have fallen out, framing his face.

Lance is supposed to be anywhere but where he is. He’s supposed to be helping Hunk, or practicing flying, or reminding Shiro of where he is and who he’s with, that some important part of him didn’t get left on the Galra ship he nearly died on.

Instead, he’s here and has been for hours, rolling through spinning stars so fast that it makes him dizzy.

“You have to be lonely,” says Keith, who lived for a year by himself out in the desert. It makes Lance feel worse rather than better, and before he realizes it, he’s hiccuping and scrubbing at his face with the sleeve of his jacket. His chest hurts.

Keith looks pained and vaguely uncomfortable. There’s a reason he lasted out in the desert.

He at least knows enough about human communication and empathy to not say anything about Lance crying in front of him. Instead, he steps past Lance, to the screen.

Around them, the stars turn.

“Here’s Earth,” says Keith finally, as the stars settle into a crown around his head. He holds out a hand to Lance, and Lance takes it, unsure why or for what reason.

They hold hands and look at Earth, and faintly, by his side, Keith says, “I miss it too,” in a sigh that leaves him leaning against Lance’s side. The room is quiet, and the stars are still, and Keith is warm under his arm.

Whatever else, he’ll hold that Keith starts it.

–

The thing is, space is vast, but the ship is small.

Keith keeps popping up. It’s not his fault, not really, it’s just that Lance is suddenly more aware of him, and it’s frustrating.

So he tries to be where Keith isn’t, but it doesn’t help, and every time Keith catches him, Lance earns a progressively darker look.

The tension snaps one day, after a Shiro-lecture on the importance of team bonds and togetherness and other things that get lost because of Keith’s glowering across the room.

Keith waits until everyone’s out of the room; Lance isn’t quite fast enough and doesn’t really have reason enough to make it out before Keith corners him against a wall.

“You’re avoiding me,” Keith growls.

He’s at least two inches shorter than Lance, which would go towards destroying the intimidation factor if he didn’t have at least fifteen pounds of muscle on Lance.

“I’m not,” he protests. It sounds feeble even to his own ears.

Keith’s expression darkens. “If you don’t want to be friends,” he says, voice tight, “all you have to do is say so. You don’t have to be an asshole.”

There’s a lot of things Lance is; asshole is at the top. His chest aches again, like it did with the map, but a little different this time. Worse.

“That’s not,” he stutters and trails as the press of Keith’s body abruptly ends.

He’s left looking at Keith’s back as he walks away.

It’s not a sight he likes.

–

Shiro isn’t helpful. “Give him time,” he orders gently, which means he knows, which makes all of this worse. “Keith is new to this, and people are always harder than he expects them to be.”

Pidge shrugs, elbows deep in a gutted machine of some sort. “What did you do this time, Lance?”

Hunk sighs and at least offers him a hug. “Wanna talk about it?” he offers.

Lance doesn’t. What he wants is to find Keith. What he wants is to apologize.

Of course, when Keith wants to stay hidden, he stays hidden. That’s Lance’s luck.

–

He only finds Keith because Keith lets himself be found.

“I’m sorry,” Lance says, before his brain convinces him to say something else, something defensive and deflecting. “I was stupid. I want to be your friend.”

Keith frowns at him, arms crossed. “And?”

“And,” Lance continues, “you’re right. I’m an asshole.”

Keith steps forward. “And?”

“And,” he struggles, “and it was nice. In the room. With the stars.”

Keith steps forward again; when Lance looks, his eyebrows are knitted, his gaze resolutely focused on Lance’s shirt. He’s silent.

“And,” continues Lance, and this is easier to say now, “and, I like you.”

Something loosens in his chest with the words.

–

When they finally kiss, Lance sees stars.


End file.
